Issue 44: March 11, 2025

Vice President News from Ian Harper:

I hope you are all well and enjoying the warmer weather, at least for the time being. It’s hard to believe that Spring Break is just around the corner.

Thank you to everyone who attended our Division Meetings on February 25^th. The turnout was tremendous, we covered a lot of material, and we had some fun as well. We included a number of photos at the end of the newsletter as a reminder, which I am sure you will enjoy. We received a good number of survey responses from these meetings, which were much appreciated; they included some new ideas and topics for future meetings, as well as areas to improve upon. This two-way communication is vital to enable us to grow and move the Division forward, so please keep the feedback coming.

One of the areas we touched on was continuing to look at how we can do things in a simpler, more efficient way. I really encourage everyone to look for ways to achieve this and to share their story with the team. We have some good examples that we discussed at the Divisional meetings, so I know we can do it; let’s keep building momentum.

If you have been randomly selected to participate in The Great Colleges to Work For survey, I do encourage you to complete the survey by the closing date of March 28^th.We have a number of significant work anniversaries taking place in March, so congratulations and thank you.

Don’t forget about the new $5 BASC Dining Coupons, which provide a great opportunity to be seen or heard by your department head or other supervisor(s) doing something above and beyond, helping others, or making a difference on campus, for which you could be rewarded!

Take care and thank you for all that you do.

Departmental News:

Brockport Auxiliary Service Corporation (BASC)

BASC’s Dining Services has a number of special events planned for March, including:

A student-selected themed event at Harrison Dining Hall on Tuesday, March 25. During the week of March 3, students are voting between the following themes: Pirates @ The Port, Black & White Dinner, and Bon Voyage. We look forward to reporting the winning theme!
National Cereal Day was celebrated with General Mills at Harrison Dining Hall on Wednesday, March 5, with free samples and prizes.
An annual favorite among students, Donut Stress Over Midterms, featured local donut delicacies at Harrison Dining Hall on Monday, March 10.
Enjoy a slice of Pie before Spring Break at Harrison Dining Hall on Pi Day – 14.
Jitterbugs Café will feature Bubble Tea the week of March 24.

Be sure to stop by and check these out! And be sure to follow BportBASC on Instagram or Facebook to stay in the know about all of our special events and promotions.

BASC’s Dining Services’ hours vary slightly just before and after Spring Break. All dining locations will be closed for meal plans during Spring Break. Brockway Dining Hall Express will be open daily March 15–22 (Noon-1pm and 6-7pm), accepting credit/debit and Easy Money. Stop by if you’re on campus! Complete hours are available at: https://basc1.org/dining/locations-hours/.

BASC’s Bookstore Services are transitioning from Barnes & Noble to eCampus at the end of the Spring semester. One change with this transition is that there will no longer be textbooks in the campus store. Students will order their materials online for free shipment to the campus store or their home address. The on-campus store will sell SUNY Brockport spirit merchandise and supplies. Training will be taking place with faculty this month on the eCampus course material adoption platform, called FAST. Communication will also be going out to students about how to order their course materials for SummerSession and Fall. Stay tuned for more information!

Departmental Fun Facts:

BASC – During the fall semester, Dining served a total of 494,471 meals in the dining halls and retail operations, and 12,670 lbs of chicken tenders!! Also, BASC has increased its total team member count by 38% over this time last year. In honor of national Employee Appreciation Day on March 7, BASC celebrated both its new and long-serving team members – they are the key to BASC’s success!
F&M – The Office of Student Accounts and Accounting (OSAA) disbursed over $17M in financial aid funds so far for the Spring 2025 semester, plus they completed and submitted Quarterly URAS Reporting in record time! The Scholarship, Research, and Sponsored Programs (SRSP) has begun a large purge of old files and is making way for digitized files, plus Scholar’s Day, an event coordinated by SRSP, is being rebranded this year, and reimagined to engage more students, faculty, staff, and community. The Budget Office completed about 1,500 journal transfers in the first 6 months of the fiscal year. In comparison, only about 2,200 journals were completed in the entire 23-24 fiscal year. And Campus Services had a successful $3M software HVAC upgrade to campus approved by the Office of the State Comptroller, plus they met in-person with over 100 key campus faculty/staff to help rollout the new campus expenditure guidelines since Jan 2025.
FMO – We have used over 1,000 tons of salt this year, which is enough to cover about 243 football fields! Last year, we used under 600 tons, covering roughly 146 football fields.
HR & Payroll – Payroll Examiners, Debbie Looney and Karen Simpson started in the payroll department on the same day almost 28 years ago! Becky Gagne, Associate Director of Human Resources started with SUNY Brockport HR as a part time Keyboard Specialist almost 25 years ago!

Employees in the Spotlight!:

New Employees:

F&M’s Procurement and Payments Services (PPS) welcomes Tara Custara, Purchase Assistant, to their team, as of February 27!

Promoted Employee:

Facilities Maintenance & Operations (FMO) congratulates Kelly Hastings on her promotion from Custodial Cleaner to Janitor, effective February 27, and wishes her much success in her new position!

Departing Employee:

Facilities Maintenance & Operations (FMO) says farewell to Finessa Brandenburg, Office Assistant 1 in the Service Center, as she has accepted a promotional opportunity outside of SUNY, effective March 13 – Facilities wishes her much success!

Getting to Know You:

Will be back next month!

Birthdays in March:

Scott Castle
Christopher Cavallaro
Chad Collins
Vickie Comden
Michelle DeMonte
Marley DeRosia
Pamela Fostano
Kelly hastings
Teresa Holland
Matthew Jock
Rachael Killion
Mary Kochmanski
Cathy Legacy
Julie Letourneau
Steve Mallaber
Stasia Molyneux
Heather Norman
James Onley
Cody Parsons
Vanessa Partridge
Zoey Perry
Matthew Smith
Cindy Smith
Jonathan Stephenson
Sareth Stolfa
Mark Watt

Work Anniversaries in March (Years of Service)

Laura Merkl
Johnna Frosini, 27 years
Robert Heywood, 26 years
Sareth Stole, 24 years
Virginia Arsenault, 21 years
Melissa Wight, 19 years
Michael Alexander, 18 years
LaTanya Blackmon, 11 years
Britney Carey, 10 years
Tyler Garrison, 10 years
Joel Zastrow, 10 years
Linda Gamble, 9 years
Keith Taylor, 9 years
Matthew Jock, 9 years
Joseph Balonek, 6 years
Rachael Killeen, 6 years
Dennis ladd, 6 years
Jason Sigler, 5 years
Dan Dippel, 4 years
Becca Caruana, 2 years
Michael Lyle, 2 years

January 2025 Green & Golden Star Awards

Amanda Auriemma (BITS): Amanda helped me implement 7 new computers in very short time period. she’s the best!
Scott Castle (FMO): A parent praised Scott’s excellent work in responding to a service call from a residential student
Angelo Cole (FMO/PTS): Excellent job presenting and representing PTS at transfer orientation.
Holly Cunningham (HR): For your patience & dedication processing the adjunct appointment & extra service forms I send you.
Kayla Guck (FMO/PTS): Great job representing PTS at transfer orientation.
Lorraine Lair (FMO/PTS): Thank you for working extra hours during rush!
Peter Lovric (BITS): Peter is very helpful to the BASC HR team in streamline the ID process & helping w/ our questions.
Teresa Major (F&M/OSAA): Taking the time to document new depart write-off rules! Thanks for being a collaborative leader!
Chris Martinez (FMO / PTS): Excellent job presenting at transfer orientation!
Pat Maxwell (BITS): For all of your hard work and expertise rebuilding our adolescence education plan of study form!
Kevin Montano (BITS): Thank you for being friendly, creative, responsive, and professional while creating a photo ID.
Daniel Murdoch (BITS): For your amazing ability to problem solve every crazy scenario I come up with to throw at you!
Meagan Oas (F&M/PPS): Thank you for pulling a whole year of electric bills so quickly!! Amazing effort!!
Megan Radder (F&M/PPS): Your prompt attention and organization around pulling a year of electricity bills! Thanks!!
Mark Stacy (F&M/PPS): Your leadership in developing new expenditure guidelines! Thank you for driving this initiative!
Jeff Thompson (BITS): Jeff always answers my questions and fix Brightspace issues very quickly. He is always available.

February 2025 Green & Gold Star Awards

Manjil Chaulagain (BASC): For your great assistance with catering the A&F Division’s Meeting on 2/25/2025 in the NY Room!
Scott Bennett (FMO/EHS): For your quick response to Mortimer Hall whenever we have a problem with our doors or elevators.
John Carlson (F&M / Mail Svcs):On 2/25 John & Amy Zastrow shoveled the icy sidewalk behind Allen to make it safe for students.
Chad Collins(FMO Grounds): All of the grounds crew for doing such a great job at snow removal.
Laura Coriddi (BITS): Thank you for showing us reports and also the modifications you have implemented for us.
Holly Cunningham (HR & Payroll): For your great assistance with the A&F Division Meeting on 2/25/2025 in the Ballroom!
Dan Dippel(F&M / Print Svcs): Your leadership, expertise, and creative thinking around growing print operations!
Tara Doty (BASC): For your assistance with catering the A&F Division’s Meeting on 2/25/2025 in the Ballroom!
Ezgi Erdogan (HR & Payroll): Great work leading the NEOED project team with a well-constructed communication plan. THANKS!!!
Robert Fisher (F&M / Print Svcs): Printing all of our Leadership Conference materials in a timely fashion despite very late arrival.
Johnna Frosini (FMO / PTS): Your never-ending care, collaboration, and creativity around finding the best parking solutions!
Kayla Guck (FMO / PTS):
Kristin Hartway (HR & Payroll): Kayla & team are great with communication & efficiency when we need passes set aside for candidates.
Beth Harvey (BASC): For your great work catering the A&F Division’s Meetings on 2/25/2025 in the Ballroom & NY Room!
Tricia Hillman (BASC): For your great job catering our A&F Division Meeting in the Ballroom on 2/25/2025!
Julie Letourneau (F&M / PPS): For being a quick learner and a great addition to our team.
Deborah Looney (HR & Payroll): Excellent service to new managers and ongoing support.
Gina Maclaren (BASC): For your outstanding job managing the catering for our A&F Division Meetings on 2/25/2025!
Shawn Maher (BITS): For your great work on creating a new Teams phone provisioning process.
Frank Mancini (BITS): Frank provides awesome classroom support! Especially at crunch time.
Tammy Jo Manz (FMO): For your great assistance with the A&F Division Meeting on 2/25/2025 in the Ballroom!
Pat Maxwell (BITS): Thank you for coming to the rescue with forms and also showing us Kuali forms.
Bill McNamara (BASC): Thank you for your outstanding work on the President’s Task Force for food on campus!
Stasia Molynuex (FPC): For your immediate and gracious response to a special furniture request. Thank you so much!
Nick North (BITS): Studious attention to data/script detail and amazing patience with the NEOED project team. THANKS!!!
Vanessa Partridge (BASC): For your great job catering our A&F Division Meeting in the Ballroom on 2/25/2025!
Kurt Pijanowski (BITS): Kurt is exceptional, professional and helpful in ensuring all the technology in my class is working.
Pam Powell (F&M/PPS): For your continual commitment to always doing the right thing and protecting the university.
Daniel Quinn (FMO Custodial): Thanks for keeping our area looking fantastic! You do a great job over here.
Megan Radder (F&M/PPS): Thank you for being a supportive boss and friend. You’re the best!
Megan Radder (F&M/PPS): For your continuous dedication to your job even under difficult situations.
Timothy Reagan (BITS): For your great work on creating a new Teams phone provisioning process.
Timothy Reagan (BITS): For your invaluable help in configuring the IR software for the new director.
Gabriel Rivera (FMO Maint): Thank you for being you!
Chris Walterick (F&M/PPS): For being a quick learner and a great addition to our team.
Alyse Wenzel (HR & Payroll): Alyse has selflessly taken on the bulk of the NEOED Project work. Her work is flawless!

BizLibrary suggested course of the month:

Improving Team Leadership – This video explores ways to improve team leadership through learning flexibility, demonstrating appreciation, providing constructive feedback, and acknowledging people’s work.

Upcoming Events:

April 4, 2025 (4-5:30pm) – First Friday @ Alumni House – join your colleagues for some food!
April 9, 2025 – Scholars Day across campus
April 25, 2025 (2:30-3:30pm) – Honors Awards & Student Leadership Ceremony in the Ballroom
May 15, 2025 – Almost Alum Block Party
May 16, 2025 – Commencement Ceremonies in SERC

Every Friday! – Green & Gold Fridays – everyone is encouraged to wear their SUNY Brockport gear / colors!

*Check out our inclusive SUNY Brockport Events Calendar*

Links for your Reference:

Leadership Newsletters (see 5^th topic down)

SUNY Brockport Leadership

Office of the President

Vice President for Administration & Finance

Department Heads for Administration & Finance

Organizational Charts for Administration & Finance

If you have news you’d like included in a future issue, please email to Laurie A. Smith (lausmith@brockport.edu).